PLAINVIEW – After a strong start to the Railyard Classic, the Plainview Bulldogs baseball team struggled to keep the Trinity Christian Tigers from scoring for a 10-6 loss during the Railyard Classic on Friday.

“When you pitch and defend the way we did today, it’s what happens. You give up a lot of runs,” Bulldogs head coach Brandon Gilliland said. “They (Trinity Christian) ran the bases well and hit the ball well. Good for them.”

The Tigers built a 2-0 lead before the Bulldogs used a big third inning to go up, 5-2. Triston Flores got Plainview going with a triple then scored on an error. Brodrick Jackson, singled, gave the Bulldogs a run and Kole Mayberry’s 2 RBI triple got Eli Munoz and courtesy runner Isaiah Magallan home for the lead. Mayberry and Andrew Villa, who got hit by a pitch, scored run Nos. 4 and 5 before the Tigers notched the final two outs.

“Success creates success a lot of times,” Gilliland said. “Us getting a hit and getting on base is juice for the next guy up for him to do something good.”

The visitors responded with seven runs in the fourth inning and never looked back. The team had five hits in the inning, which included doubles by Jake Ortiz and Cadon Everett, and Roman Thompson’s RBI triple. Brooks Browning came in to pitch for the Bulldogs and gave up a run to Brady Alexander and a walk to Ortiz, but struck out Everett to end the top half of the inning.

“Brooks did fine,” Gilliland said. “With pitching yesterday, he might have been a little tight today. He settled in and did a really good job.”

Browning struck out the side in the top of the sixth to finish with five, but the Bulldogs couldn’t get any more runs to take the four-run loss.

The day before was a different story, however. The team left 18 batters stranded and pocketed two wins during the first day of the season-opening Railyard Classic on Friday.

“We had an error in the outfield with a kid being aggressive and we’ll take that,” Gilliland said. “We had a double-play ball there late in the game. We’re going to get better from that.

“Sometimes seeing the opportunity is part of the journey.”

The Andrews Mustangs threatened to give the Bulldogs a loss during the final game Thursday evening. With the Bulldogs up, 2-1, a hit, error and walk put Jesse Hernandez, Cody Cabrera and Brennon Bennett on base with no outs.

Clayton Chesshire tried to bunt, but instead popped the ball up. Munoz, on third base, caught the ball then threw to pitcher Brooks Browning, who took Hernandez out after the runner couldn’t get back to third base in time. Will Rossi made the final play on a 4-3 groundout before the game ended via the two-hour rule for the 2-1 decision.

The Bulldogs opened the season with a 9-0 shutout victory over the Big Spring Steers. Alcala and Browning combined pitching duties and allowed on three hits while fanning seven and two, respectively.

Offensively, the Bulldogs got going after two-out double to left field from Mayberry, who had three hits on the day.

“That’s what he does: he shows up every day and goes to work,” Gilliland said. “We know exactly what we’re going to get from him when he’s at the plate and hope he continues to get better and keep fighting. He had some really good at-bats today.”

Mayberry later scored on Riley Bennett’s hit before Gipson’s walk scored courtesy runner Isaiah Magallan. Magallan scored again on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth.

The home team added two more runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings and scored once in the second. With the team nearly reaching a 10-run rule, a two-hour time limit allowed it to end with nine.